Unlovable to a Fault
by aeschtunesfan
Summary: "Stop lying to me! I'm a monster! You could never love me!" he said. "No... you're not the monster around here. I am. I'm the one that you could never love. I'm not a person, not according to most people back home." I replied. And he stared at me as though I had grown a second head. New version of an old fanfic of mine, updated and improved! Please read and review! LudwigxOC
1. Chapter 1 Only the Beginning

**Author's Note: Hiya all you readers out there! This here is "Unlovable to a Fault", a new version of my old fanfiction "Fiance: A Modern Darklands Love Story", which, honestly, had a lot of problems. This is a reboot, starting over from the beginning, rewriting what already exists in the timeline but diverging periodically to make transitions make more sense, and make my main character be less of a Mary-Sue. Heck, even her name is changing. Though, I AM going to be apologizing right now to anyone who had been reading the previous fanfiction and saw that I took it down after I got some reviews where I received criticism, and it seemed like I was pulling it down out of rage, or gave up because of those reviews. Actually, before I got those reviews, I had been planning to take it down anyways but had been busy with school, so the fact those reviews came up shortly before I took the fanfic down is purely coincidence. In fact, I support being given constructive criticism, and I would love to get some on this new version of this story. And I'll try to fix issues as people point them out and stuff. In this version, I'm going to try to make some things about the main character more noticeable and understandable from the get-go, and try to make the story more intriguing… and try to pace both storyline and relationship stuff at more realistic paces, not too fast or slow. So… now that I'm done with all of that, it's time to start up this new fanfiction, "Unlovable to a Fault"! Please enjoy!**

**_Chapter 1- Only the Beginning:_**

When people look at me, it isn't a person that they see. Normally, when people look at me, I must look like a punching bag or something to that effect. Why else would they throw such harsh words in my face, or push me into walls or lockers? Why else would they try to touch me in ways I'm not comfortable with? Why else would they toy with my feelings? I dunno, maybe I'm trying to read too much into it, but I think it's cause they don't see me as human. They see me as less than them.

I'm a 5'3", flat-chested, scrawny girl, only seventeen years of age. My hair is dark brown, slightly greasy, unmanageable, and shoulder-length. My eyes have a combination of the color of moss and the color of melted caramel. My skin is pale, but is very blotchy. It has red patches, and several small zits dusting my face. There is a dark brown birthmark the size of my thumb prominently standing out my left cheek. I wear black-rimmed, dorky glasses. I wear baggy t-shirts and ratty jeans, things that cause people to assume I'm a twelve year old boy when they see me for the first time. My appearance is nothing more than average. I'm not athletic, I hate sports and I can't do anything athletic without injuring myself. I'm clumsy and end up doing more to harm the teams I am on than to help them. I am just a burden to them. I sing in my school's choir, and this is my sixth year in choir, however, I'm nowhere near as good as the other members of the choir at singing. I'm decent, and it doesn't cause anyone to lose their hearing to listen to me, but I'm nowhere near as good as professional singers. I draw and write in my spare time, but I never show anyone my drawings, and everything I write either is extremely corny or extremely depressing. There is no in-between.

I either talk way too much, or not enough. All I do is annoy the people around me. That's what other people always tell me, anyways. And it's what I believe. It's why I believe I am unlovable. And I don't think anything will ever change that. However, life doesn't always dredge on in the same old monotonous pattern. That's what I learned today. That's what I learned as I walked home from school down the same path I always walk home down. It's what I learned as I walked by an alleyway, smelled something sweet, and then collapsed into the sultry embrace of darkness and unconsciousness.

We were just some Koopa Knights, servants to the King of Koopas, King Bowser. We were assigned on a task of finding a teenage girl to bring to the castle. Ludwig was supposed to be taking the thrown once his seventeenth birthday hit, and he is supposed to get married during his coronation to ensure that he will have heirs. However, Prince Ludwig currently had no girlfriend, no mate, no fiancée, and no romantic relationship with a girl… it is our job to fix that. He either has to choose a girl from the Dark Land capital and marry her, or he'll be forced to marry the girl we bring to castle on his birthday before the crown is handed over to him. It would be wonderful if he could actually gain feelings for the girl we grab, but that probably won't happen. He'll at least learn to tolerate her and use her as a factory for making heirs, but other than that, he probably won't like her. He hasn't felt any romantic feelings towards any girls since his girlfriend died three years ago.

We also had some criteria. The girl must be human, and at least look decent. We had no idea what "decent" looks like for a human, since they are an extremely rare sight in Dark Land, and we had never seen a human girl before. We all had seen Mario, however, so we all knew that someone who looked like Mario was automatically out. We, Koopie, Koopzin, and I, Koopsumi, were sent out to find a girl and bring her to the castle by any means necessary, meaning we have to knock her out and kidnap her, bringing her to the castle against her will. That's when we saw her. She was taller than the average Koopa by about 3 inches, but still shorter than the members of the royal family, besides Wendy, Lemmy, and Jr. by about 4 to 5 inches. She was the same height as Wendy, about 5 inches taller than Lemmy, and about 10 inches taller than Jr. She had dark brown hair… and she had curves to an amount that didn't make her seem like a slut or a whore. And… she was also the first girl we saw.

We saw no reason to put any effort into this assignment, Prince Ludwig probably wouldn't end up choosing a girl he liked anyways, so why go out of our way to get him an attractive future wife that he may get along with? So, as soon as we saw her, we sprayed her with a special serum from the Dark Land that only knocks out humans, and we caught her as she fell and quickly slunk back to the castle. Prince Ludwig would be meeting her at dinner. She should wake up in half an hour, so we'll send Kat and Jitt up to her room around then to help her get dressed and prepped for meeting Prince Ludwig. Hopefully she won't make too much of a fool of herself, since she'll probably have to live with Prince Ludwig for the rest of her life… and she probably doesn't want to be married to a husband whom is always irate with her and ended up hating her within the first few minutes of meeting her. It is going to be fun to see where this all goes. So, we gently laid her on the queen sized bed that had blue sheets, meant to match the signature color of her future husband, and we walked out, locking the door from the outside so she couldn't escape.

We now had a future wife for Prince Ludwig, so we completed our mission. We can go and rest now. For finishing this mission, we won't be sent to the front lines to fight Mario when he comes again to take Princess Peach from our grasp. We hope that King Bowser doesn't dislike our choice of girl, because if he does, we'll be used as meat shields that Mario has to kill off before he can challenge our King. What we want most is to live.

I opened up my eyes, and I saw I was in an unfamiliar, round, stone room with a single wooden door and no windows. I was lying on a bed with dark blue sheets and a pink blanket. The floor was stone. There is a wardrobe on the far side of the room. I do not recognize my surroundings, and I feel very, very scared. I don't know what to do. I feel the fear and panic rise up through me, and I begin to breathe in and out heavily while curling myself into a ball, with my arms around my legs, and I begin to rock back and forth. That is when I heard the most ominous sound I could think of in that instant; a long, loud, knock on the large, wooden door. I froze, terrified. I, Jerrica Aja Benton, had no idea what to do, was in an unfamiliar location and was undoubtedly kidnapped. I heard the knock on the door again, louder and longer this time. My captor was probably getting annoyed with me. Afraid of getting on my captor's bad side, I did the only thing I could think of.

"H-hello..? W-whoever's there… you can come in…" I said, in a small, timid voice. And with a click, two figures stood in front of me. They had opened the door to both the room, and to the changes that were about to occur in my life. Who knows what I'll find on the other side of the door. But I don't get to find out now, since the two figures closed the door behind them.

"Hi, my name is Kat Koopa!" said the figure on the left enthusiastically, and she had long, pitch-black hair and an ebony shell, looking very much like the Koopas from the _Mario _series, which is probably where her surname comes from.

"And I am Jitt Koopa," said the figure on the right, unenthused. He had short, spiky, neon pink hair, and a shell that was white with orange splotches. "We're here to help you get dressed and prepared for meeting Prince Ludwig von Koopa at dinner. What is your name?"

"M-my name…?" I said, fear filling my voice, my eyes, my entire being, "My name is… Jem… Jem Benton." I used the name that Jerrica took in her holographic disguise in the cartoon show _Jem _when she went to perform. I was too scared to say my real name. What if they wanted to sell me? What if they wanted to torture me or hurt me? I didn't feel comfortable giving them my real name.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Jem!" said Kat.

"Yes, it is very nice to meet you," said Jitt, "and now, it is time for us to get started on getting you ready."

"Yes," said Kat, "it is time to begin!" Kat smiled brightly at me. And with that, my life began into a drastic change.

**Author's Note 2: Well you guys, here is the brand new first chapter, and for those of you who read the previous version of this, some old characters did come back, but they aren't entirely the same, and some characters that appeared got a little more screen time. The protagonist's name changed (using names of characters from ****_Jem _****mainly cause I love that series and the names in the series) as is easily seen, mainly cause I felt like I was changing her up by enough that a new name should be in order for her, too. How is this version so far? Is it interesting? Do you guys think I should continue on? Hopefully this version of my protagonist doesn't turn into a Mary-Sue! I'll update this as often as I can guys! Hopefully you guys enjoy it, and hopefully I write this tastefully, artfully, and still make it interesting! That's all for this chapter! I'll see you guys all next time! Stay flaming till then! 3**


	2. Chapter 2 Glitter and Gold

**Authors Note: Hey guys! Looks like I am back! Thanks to both of you whom have reviewed so far, your input means a lot to me! When it comes to the writing style of this and how strong this is so far, and how good of descriptions compared to the last version, the last fanfic was written a few years ago and I was trying to salvage the old writing and building on that scaffolding with my new writing style, which did not work very well. This version takes the same base idea, but it is completely rewritten in my current writing style which is ever improving because of my AP Language and Composition I am currently taking. And when it comes to the Koopas who grabbed Jem… well… I'll just say that they're idiots, and they don't think things through very well. I also was slightly distracted writing the first chapter since my nine year old sister was hovering over my shoulder, so some issues like "thrown" instead of "throne" popped up. I'll keep the marking the pov changes in mind, however. One thing about Jem, however, is that she is surrounded by images in the media telling her that she is lesser and people have always turned to her and bullied her (which, in that respect, she is actually based on my life experiences, since that is what has occurred in my life which I think actually pushes her closer to the Mary-Sue side… being based on me puts her that way, right? Which doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing… cause this makes it easier for me to write her…) however, as we meet more characters, we'll see that that isn't necessarily what's true. That maybe she isn't as worthless as she believes she is. This does have Bowser Jr. in it, however, I set up the tradition of the first-born Koopas gaining the throne at age 17. Bowser does favor Jr. as a son, but Jr. is about eleven years younger that Ludwig in this version of the Mushroom world, being around 6 years old at the moment and Ludwig closing in on his 17****th****birthday. Ludwig is mainly going to be a place-holder king, like…a regent? I think that's the proper term… and the throne is going to be handed over to Jr. on his 17****th****birthday, which gets announced later in this chapter. Which I don't mind revealing right now. Also, humans are seen as a higher social class in the Dark Land in my interpretation since they are not seen as commonly as Goombas or Koopas or Shy Guys or the like, that automatically makes a human girl more desirable to have as a partner and makes someone seem better off. …and I'm just saying that Koopa and human offspring can work cause I wanna believe that, but I have no idea to explain why since science is not my strong point so… yeah. Ludwig does believe in marrying the perfect girl, he does have that kind of pride in this depiction, however, if he doesn't find a "perfect girl" on his own by his 17****th****birthday, he is going to be forced by the advisors to marry Jem whether he loves her and wants to marry or if he absolutely hates her guts and wants to murder her in her sleep. I hope that covers everything that was brought up in the reviews posted on October 1****st****, since those are the only reviews I'm dealing with in this Author's Note or it'll get too long. Though, some things will have to wait to see answers for in text until those points occur in the story! Thank you Odgerel and xHandWhistlerx for reviewing! It means a lot! Now, onto chapter 2! 3**

**Chapter 2- ****_Glitter and Gold_**

~J~

"Time to begin what…?" I asked nervously to Kat. Kat smiled at me deviously, making me feel very, very concerned.

"Time to begin preparing you to have dinner with the Koopa who is probably going to be your future husband, of course!" said Kat sunnily, making me feel increasingly more worried.

"Preparing me… how?" I asked, taking a step backward from Kat, my voice becoming very quiet out of fear. I had a vague idea what she meant based on the tone of her voice, but… maybe it wasn't… _that_. Please don't let it be _that_… please dear God no…

"By putting you in a pretty dress and doing your make-up Jem-dearie," Kat said throwing her hands into the air. "And luckily for Jitt and me, we got a super adorable model here to work with! We're only going to need to do a minimal amount of make-up, and we'll get to put you in _it_, my favorite dress of all the ones we have cause you look small enough to fit in it, and of course we're gonna curl your hair and put some pretty flowers in it… we're gonna give you a makeover and put you in beautiful clothes! It'll be so much fun!" And… there it was. Of course, it had to be… _that_. It had to be her wanting to dress me up and give me a makeover. For some reason, girls really want to do that to me all of the time. They see me as a dress up doll. And there's that word again, "adorable", the word all of the girls who want to give me makeovers always refer to me as. I don't see how I could be "adorable"… I'm not pretty, not cute, not beautiful… look at all of the girls in beauty magazines, and in anime and manga and cartoons and videogames… they're pretty, beautiful, cute, adorable… not me. I'm nothing compared to them.

"Oh… um… wonderful, Miss Kat…" I said, feeling fear bubbling up within me, afraid of what they might do to me in this "makeover", what they might dress me in. Usually when people give me makeovers, they slather my face in many layers of make-up, curl my hair heavily and use hairspray to hold it in place, and dress me tightly fitting clothing that cuts down low in the front and has really short bottoms attached to it. They would force me into stiletto heels, and then tell me that I was now "beautiful" and that I looked "a thousand times better than I usually do" and that I should dress like that "more often"… they would say that and then start snickering and taking pictures which they would send to other students at our school which they would tease me about once I was back at school. I was afraid of what these Koopas might do to me. I soon learned that I had nothing to fear from what they were doing to me.

Within the next hour and a half, Kat and Jitt helped me undress and got me into a golden ball gown pair with a maroon jacket. Which, ironically are my school colors, but I don't think those two know that. The golden gown glittered in the light, and the neck was like that of a turtleneck. The dress itself had not sleeves, and was paired with the maroon jacket to keep my arms covered and keep me "properly covered" for being in public and being in the presence of the entirety of the royal family. The top portion fit snugly to my upper-body and accentuated my chest to show that I do actually have curves. They're nowhere near as big as the breasts that super models have, but they're at least somewhat noticeable, and compared to Kat's body, they're quite large. The dress then poofs out at my waist and is a wide, flowing skirt that goes down to the floor.

"See, I was right!" said Kat, "_It _did fit on you pretty much perfectly! Now, it's time to let Jitt do your hair and make-up! Oh, you're going to be so cute! Even Prince Ludwig should realize how cute you are! He might not end up liking you at first, but at least he'll think you're cute, and that will be absolutely wonderful and then you'll be able to-"

"Shut your mouth, Kat, she shouldn't know about that. Not yet." Said Jitt, before he sat me down in a chair; he turned the chair so it was not facing the mirror, and he began curling my hair, spraying with hairspray so his handiwork wouldn't get ruined. He then had me close my eyes, and he applied eye shadow to my eyes, in a golden shade, and put maroon lipstick on my lips. Jitt smiled, and then he clipped a black bracelet to my wrist.

"This," he said, "is a shock bracelet. It will electrocute you if you try to hurt any member of the royal family, try to escape the castle, or try to take your own life. It automatically shuts off if Bowser were to be defeated by someone who rescues you, but we worked so hard to get you here, we wouldn't want you run off and disappear, now, would we? So we're making you wear this as a precaution, okay, child?" Jitt said with a dark smile, holding my chin in his right hand.

"O-okay Mr. Jitt…" I said, flinching away from him and his touch.

"It is good that you understand me… I wouldn't want my handiwork to go to waste, and I want you to realize that if you try to do any of those things, try to hurt _my _Prince, I will do everything in my power to make you so ugly and horrid in his eyes that he'll want nothing to do with you and kill you in your sleep. I'm _only _helping with this since I know I cannot be with my Prince because of my gender and I'm deciding to give you a chance since you don't seem as snooty and manipulative as most girls around here that I've met… but if you prove me wrong, I'll make you disappear. Don't let me down, girl." Jitt said ominously, pushing me away from him, causing me to fall backwards onto the floor.

"Jitt;" Kat scolds the Koopa next to her, "don't say those things to her! You're scaring her! Don't worry, sweetums, I won't let mean old Jitt hurt you! I'll keep you safe and make you as pretty as possible, cause I bet you're a wonderful lady, and I'm sure Prince Ludwig will love you! You're so adorable! He's bound to fall for you eventually!" Kat said, helping me up, and pulling me into her embrace.

"Don't feed her such lies, Kat, you know just as well as I do that it is very doubtful that Prince Ludwig would ever fall in love with her or find her attractive. You're just trying to fill the world with your over romanticized ideals again. Just give it up. I'm the only person the Prince Ludwig probably ever loved was his dead girlfriend, and the only person he will probably ever love is me and he can't because of my gender and his status." Jitt replied, glaring at his raven-haired partner.

"Jitt, stop it! Prince Ludwig has rejected you seventeen times because he doesn't like you in that manner! He doesn't swing that way, and even if you were a girl, you wouldn't be ladylike enough for him anyway! Why not try to support the new girl instead of brooding in your romantic fantasies!" Kat said, hands on her hips.

"Fine, Kat, I will… besides, he's only going to be a regent until Prince Bowser Jr. finally takes the throne. Once Prince Ludwig is off of the throne, he'll probably murder this girl and then marry me, anyways. So I'll help her for now, to make sure he can get to the throne." Jitt said, crossing his arms.

"Fine… I don't care what your reasons are, just help dear Jem sweetums!" Kat said, and then she grabbed my hand. "Now, Jem sweetums," she said, "it's time for us to head off to the dining hall so you can meet Prince Ludwig, King Bowser, and the rest of the royal family."

"I-it is…?" I asked incredulously, gulping.

"Yup," said Kat, "it is!" and with that, Kat's grip on my hand tightened, and she ran out of the room dragging me behind her as Jitt followed slowly behind us glaring daggers into my back the whole way. _If this was how this was all going to start, I'm afraid of seeing what happens next. These two were crazy enough. What is going to be in store for me when I meet the royal family?_ I thought those things as Kat and I ran through the halls. Then, she stopped in front of a large, wooden door, and she pushed it open slowly… and I was surprised at what I saw on the other side of that door, the side of it that is leading to my future.

**Author's Note 2: So… this here is the end of chapter 2! What do you guys think of this chapter? Are there any errors in it that I should worry about? Does Jem seem like less of an anti-Sue? Is it still interesting? Is there anything else that you guys want to point out? I'd love to see more reviews and hear from the readers! I'm trying to make an update schedule, but right now I'm busy because of homecoming this weekend, and I have a lot of homework and other projects piled on me, so I'll be updating rather sporadically at first. Once I have a more concrete update schedule, I'll let you guys know, okay? I hope you all enjoyed reading! Read and review! -Aesch 3 **


	3. Chapter 3 AN of Doom, Sorry Guys!

**A/N:** Hey you guys... so... this isn't really a chapter. I'm sorry. So, first of all, I've been really busy with school so I haven't really had the time to sit down and write more to this... and... honestly? I lost my drive on this story. I had sat down with it a couple of weeks ago and started dissecting it, and goodness, the plot is really, really, _really _bad... so... I'm giving up on this incarnation of the story. **HOWEVER**- I gathered up several of the pieces I wanted to salvage, and I found ways to work them into a new plot which I think will work a lot better and will have better logic... however, the downside is, my OC is really starting to feel like a self-insert as I keep editing and re-imagining this plot, but, I think I'll just live with it at this point. Sure, there are lots of people who don't like self-inserts, but... I feel like writing a story with one in there as the main character. I think it'll be fun. And that's what I want most from this fanfiction writing experience- fun. I want to enjoy what I'm writing. But, I want you guys to like it too, if I do post it, or at least try to give me constructive criticism to help with it. I did notice that the biggest problem with this was _why _the OC ended up in the castle in the first place. It really made no sense and everything fell apart from there. So... before I fully start into this new incarnation, I'm gonna let you guys preview the concept by giving you guys a section of the first chapter to read below, to see if it makes more sense why these two meet. I realize there is still some kinks probably, and it still probably doesn't make the most sense, but it probably makes more sense than my whole "marrying off Ludwig so he can take the throne at age 17 only to hand it over to Jr. when Jr. turns 17" thing... I think this makes more sense than that... so... here is the segment I'm giving you guys, let me know what you think of it, please!

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><p>I hate this. I hate it so, so much. I felt the tears streaming down my face… I really didn't want to deal with this. I didn't want <em>this<em>… I really didn't. But my father… the _king _of the Meringue Clouds… to create peace with _King Bowser _and Dark Land… engaged me to King Bowser's oldest son, _Ludwig Von Koopa; _and once married, that… that _monster _would be first in line for the throne, and align our kingdom with those… those _savages_ to give them an upper-hand against the angelic Princess Peach, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. My brown hair cascaded behind me as I ran towards the armory. Tears streamed down my face as I thought about what my father told me three hours earlier at dinner. I had spent the last three hours trying to figure out what to do, how to handle this… and I realized something important. There was only one way out… I had to die. I'm sorry, father, I'm sorry, citizens… but… I have to do this… there… there is no way I can continue like this. If… if only… it didn't have to end like this. If only I wasn't leaving you all to your doom. More tears streamed down my face and my brown hair fell in front of my already blurry eyes. I grabbed a simplistic sword, one lying on a table, and I looked out the window, up at that the stars. With a small sigh, I stabbed the sword into my chest and I made a wish… a wish that someone could just… take… my… place…

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><p>I hate this. I hate it so fucking much. I hate how everyone treats me as some lesser being, someone who doesn't deserve to exist. I hate how they treat me as an encyclopedia of answers at school; I hate how they think I'm their servant to do everything for them. I hate how most people throw sugar-coated words at me just to use me. I hate how people laugh at my pain, how they think it's hilarious how people push me into lockers and call me a whore since most of my friends are guys. I hate how all of the girls tell me that I'm ugly and "accidentally" spill their trays of food on me whenever I'm wearing something that I feel like I look good in. I hate how the several guys at my school harass me and try to bribe me into dating them and sleeping with them since I'll "never find love" and that they're the best I could have. I hate how everyone keeps telling me that I'm worthless and that the world would be better off if I was never. Well, I can't change the fact that I was born. But, I can do the next best thing. I can die. With a glance out of my kitchen window to the stars above, I stabbed a sharp knife into my chest, while thinking that I didn't really want this; that I was just sick of how everyone treated me. But it was too late, I already stabbed myself… so, with my last bits of consciousness, I made a wish on the stars outside, a wish that instead of dying, please just… let… me… escape…<p>

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><p>Star Road is infinite. It's the thread that connects all universes to each other; it's what allows wishes to be granted. One of the stars in Star Road sat quietly, as the stars normally do when waiting for wishes to come from its designated worlds. That was when something that the young star, the youngest and brand new star in his segment, had never experienced before happened- two wishes came to him simultaneously from the universes he looked over, from the parallel forms of each other. Princess Lemon from the Meringue Cloud kingdom, and Emily, a young teenage girl living in middle class America; they are parallel forms of each other. But not perfect parallels, though, since Lemon is not truly human, with her feathers on her cheeks and feathers mixed in with her hair. But other than that, the two look identical… and their wishes… didn't even conflict with each other. The two wishes could be granted simultaneously, allowing the young star, who only had another power to grant one wish to grant both in one fell swoop- he just had to transport Emily to the Meringue Cloud kingdom so she could take Lemon's place, both allowing Emily to escape her torment, and allowing Lemon's place to be taken by someone else. It was a brilliant plan. With a wave of his stubby-star arm, and a smile on his face, the wish was granted before he fell into a hundred year long sleep.<p>

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><p><strong>AN 2: **I feel like the above ^^^ works a lot better than what I wrote originally. I have several ideas of where that could go, and I hope to write the rest of this new incarnation. Thanks you guys for reading both _Fiancé _and _Unlovable _up to both of their ends, and I hope you guys will read the new incarnation and hopefully I'll actually finish that one. Thanks for all of the support and constructive criticism! You guys are amazing! :3


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